Bentoel race draws 40 foreign riders

Bentoel race draws 40 foreign riders

JAKARTA (JP): French defending champion Sebastian Tortelli,
the current world leader in the 125cc Motocross World
Championship, will spearhead 40 foreign crossers for the Bentoel
World Motocross race in Yogyakarta next week.

Tortelli, who won last year's event on the same track, and 15
top riders at the 5th series of the world event concluded last
Sunday in Hungary, are to compete in Yogyakarta.

"Fifteen best crossers in the fifth round of the championships
in Hungary will participate in the 6th series of the World
Championship in Yogya. Crossers from the United States, New
Zealand, Australia, England and the Netherlands will also
participate," said chairman of the organizing committee Dolly
Indra Nasution.

Tortelli, who leads the series with 158 points, Sweden Bob
Moore, 1994 World Champion, fellow countryman Markus Hansson,
former 550cc World Champion and last year's World Champion
Alessandro Puzar will aslo in the fray in Yogyakarta.

Farryd Sungkar, secretary of the organizer, said that there
will be a qualifying round if more than 40 crossers participate
in the event, which will be staged from June 1 to June 2.

Dolly said that the Federation of International Motocross has
submitted a notice that during last year's race the track was
found to be too dusty.

The motor sport world governing body on the other hand praised
Indonesia's success in terms of spectators who attended the race.
The race attracted some 35,000, the world's largest number to
watch a world championship motocross in 1995.

According to a Federation of International Motocross report
there were only some 7,000 spectators at the Italian motocross,
15,000 at England's, 10,000 at Czech Republic's, 12,000 at
France's, 8,000 at Germany's and 6,500 at Holland's.

"In Yogyakarta we have the largest number of spectators so
far," Dolly said.

The organizer will build 12 wells around the circuit and
provide water trucks to keep down the dust.

This year, the world series will be staged in 12 rounds. The
first to fifth round took place in Italy, Switzerland, Spain,
Netherlands and Hungary. The next event, after Yogyakarta, will
move to France, England, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia and
Germany. (yan)